


The Last Bridge

by Ginnyrules27



Series: Watch and Learn [6]
Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Cross-Posted on Wattpad, F/M, Hades is a Good Parent, Protective Ben (Disney: Descendants), Protective Mal (Disney)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-12 05:15:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29629647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ginnyrules27/pseuds/Ginnyrules27
Summary: That was it. The last viewing. Or at least they hoped. Now all they needed to do was somehow get their lives back in order. The question remained, however….was such a thing truly possible after everything they had learned?
Relationships: Ben/Mal (Disney: Descendants), Doug/Evie (Disney: Descendants), Harry Hook/Uma, Jane/Carlos de Vil
Series: Watch and Learn [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1995670
Comments: 39
Kudos: 53





	1. Chapter 1

Mal sighed as she watched the back and forth between Ben and Zeus. It'd been a few days since the viewing and still there'd been no agreement made in changing Steph's agreement with Zeus and Beast.

The first thing they had done was arrange the meeting, actually. They even pushed back the date of their engagement party, something Evie was all too happy about as it gave her time to finish up some orders for gowns for the party. As well she was helping Audrey rebuild her wardrobe, a request made by Aurora but all decisions would be okayed by the former Queen of Mean.

They would still need to figure out what her punishment would be for stealing the scepter and the crown but for right now, Mal was more concerned at making sure Audrey was alright. That she knew that despite the actions of her onscreen self, she would have an ally in the VKs. Well maybe not Uma but then again, it hadn't been _Hadie_ Audrey had held captive and it hadn't been Ben Audrey danced off with.

They would also need to figure out a punishment for Leah and Natalie for pushing Audrey so hard that she would even _consider_ stealing the scepter and the crown—both of which had been returned to the museum. The Blue Fairy had handled the scepter as to avoid anyone else falling under its curse. It now stood back in its spot but now it was surrounded with the same level of protection as Fairy Godmother's wand.

_Gods, it's not as if there's anyone else who I see as the Ambassador to the Isle,_ Mal thought as the meeting continued, shaking her head slightly as Beast opened his mouth. He, Belle and Fairy Godmother were also in attendance though they had yet to say anything until now. _Nope. As much as I love Ben and I don't want there to be any bad blood between him and his father, this is one meeting I'm not going to let anyone pressure me into making a different decision. Nor am I going to let him undermine Ben's rule._

"Forgive me for interrupting as you both have made excellent points over the past few days," Mal said, cutting off whatever Beast was going to say. "However, Lord Zeus… _uncle_ , would you be in agreement that Lady Persephone would be the best fit to be an Ambassador to the Isle and bring us an updated list of kids to be invited off?"

Ben had already sent off a few invitations the moment they had been put back in their respective locations. Harry, Gil, Hadie, Sammy, and Harriet should have gotten their invitations to Auradon by now—and Ben had an invitation ready to hand to Uma personally whenever her cousin was able to arrive in Auradon.

Gods…her _cousin_. It'd been years since Mal had even felt comfortable thinking the word and now she was able to restart her friendship. She wasn't going to lie, it was a weird feeling not having to think about Uma or Harry with hatred. As much as she loved her cousin, it had been eight years of thinking about her as her rival. As her enemy.

That wasn't an easy thing to shake.

"Lady Mal, you are not wrong in that Lady Persephone would be an excellent fit to be an Ambassador to the Isle," Zeus nodded. "However, that agreement has been in place since before the creation of the Isle. To change it now—."

"To change it now would allow more kids the chance at a better life while we wait for Fairy Godmother and the Good Fairies to find a way to slowly remove the barrier," Mal stated. "A barrier that was reinforced by the Gods, if I remember correctly."

_After all, Gods forbid Hades somehow escape,_ she thought with an internal eye roll. Knowing what she knew now, the only reason her father would have tried to escape would be to get a better life for her or her brother.

Or you know, to connect her to the ember and ensure she had the ability to use her Godly talents.

"Lady Persephone's powers are rendered useless on the Isle by the almost complete urban setting, why torture her to sit and watch as kids continue to suffer? Yes we've fixed the food issue and yes there's now a medical system on the Isle but they should still be allowed to come to Auradon," Mal continued. "To know there's more out there than just the constant looming cloud of evil."

"As Dizzy and Celia pointed out in the viewing, there's no even distribution of food," Ben chimed in. "Children are still suffering based on their alliances and the nature of their birth. If we had an Ambassador to the Isle, someone who was well familiar with the kids and their needs—."

"Ben, every time we open the barrier, we run the risk of a villain escaping," Beast pointed out and Mal had to fight the urge to roll her eyes as she heard his words. "Maleficent has already escaped and attacked your coronation."

"And who was it, dad, who stopped her?" Ben asked, looking over at his father. "Lord Hades and Mal. It wasn't any of our guards, it wasn't any of the heroes of Auradon. In fact, I seem to remember most of us were _frozen_."

"Maleficent is also a lizard and calls a fish tank 'home'," Mal added. "We are not talking about Maleficent. We are talking about the scores of _children_ who have yet to see _sunlight_ because Auradon thought it better to lump them with the crimes of their parents rather than give them a chance."

Turning back to Zeus, Mal continued to talk. "Lady Persephone spends six months out of the year on the Isle, she frequently walks around it. Giving aid to any and all she can. Unless you'd rather have _Uma_ be the Ambassador to the Isle?"

Mal had no issue giving that title to her cousin but she knew it would rankle her uncle, the memory of yet another one of his nieces who was forced to suffer for _years_ under a barrier that he had reinforced.

"Lord Zeus, in doing this, you would be in the debt of all the VKs of the Isle. You would be lauded as a hero, someone who would be admired by most of the Isle."

"Most?"

"Some of the VKs don't acknowledge the Greek Gods as actual Gods," Mal explained, looking at Ben, who nodded in understanding. It really wasn't the time or place to get into that sort of discussion. They would have to have it at some point but not now.

Beast opened his mouth again but Belle gently rested her hand on his forearm, as if to remind him that they were out of their depths here. This was a conversation between _Gods_. The only reason Ben had any real business interjecting was because he was a: the King and b: going to be marrying into their family.

_Gods, it truly was hard to believe Ben would be getting married in a few years,_ she thought. At first, when Ben came to them and said that he wanted to propose to Mal, she had thought he was too young. After all, his father had proposed to her when she was _twenty eight_. But after Ben had explained Lord Hades' stipulation, that he would only give his consent to Ben proposing if the wedding occurred after both of them were over the age of eighteen, Belle had to admit they were a perfect match.

Mal brought Ben out of his shell while Ben allowed Mal to see that she didn't have to try and please everyone, or at least please those with authority over her. That was something she still wanted to talk to Mal about. Mal was going to be _Queen_ after all. She would soon learn that there would be no pleasing everyone…and she would be the most powerful person in the room if Ben wasn't there.

"Lord Zeus," Mal stated, looking at her uncle who still looked unsure about the whole thing, and inadvertently bringing Belle's attention back to the matter at hand. Mal hated to play this card but if it was for the Isle, then it would be worth it. "Would you do this as a favor to me? Your niece? The niece that you spent sixteen years not knowing existed?"

The room grew quiet at that and Mal almost regretted opening her mouth. Had she just blown it? Was the Isle just doomed to suffer until they found a way to remove the barrier without blasting the kids with sunlight?

But to her surprise, Zeus just seemed to chuckle slightly. "As blunt as Artemis," he said, shaking his head.

"Probably just as deadly too," Mal said with a small smirk. After all, her cousin _was_ a Huntress.

Zeus nodded and sighed. "Very well Lady Mal. I'll talk with Lady Persephone and make sure she would be alright with being an Ambassador to the Isle."

"'An' Ambassador?" Mal asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Surely you don't intend on only having one?" Zeus asked and Mal had to admit, that was a legitimate point her uncle had made. Huh, who knew Zeus was capable of such a thing?

"Queen Rapunzel sent me a letter the other day," Ben spoke up, fishing the letter out of his desk drawer and setting it on his desk. "Cassandra Gothel is on the Isle but she was put there by her own volition. Something about wanting to keep an eye on her mother, I believe. She might be a good person to ask about being an Ambassador."

Mal gasped softly as the memories of her youth came flooding back. The few times the Rotten Four would target Ginny Gothel, for instance, there was always an older woman ready to chase them off. Mal never knew her name but knew the woman was quite skilled with a sword, even if she was limited by only using one hand.

"Cassandra wouldn't have short black hair and hazel eyes, would she?"

"Yeah," Ben nodded. "You know her?"

"We've met a time or two," Mal nodded, making sure to keep her face neutral as she had no ill will toward the Gothels, even if Mother Gothel had been one of her teachers back at Dragon Hall. _Gods, how'd I never pick up on the fact that she was Gothel's daughter? Though she was one of the few adults who didn't really have an alliance and really she did try to avoid Gothel as much as humanly possible. It was truly like she was only there to make sure Gothel didn't escape._

"Think she'd be a good fit for an Ambassadorship?"

"Let's see if Steph…I mean Lady Persephone says yes first," Mal stated. "If she does, then we can approach Cassandra about sharing the load."

_After all, Steph would want to help with my wedding,_ Mal thought. _There's no reason to put so much stress on her in that regard and if there was another Ambassador, then Steph won't feel like she has to play double duty. Plus what if she and dad want another kid?_

"Fair enough," Ben nodded. "Lord Zeus, do you agree to those terms?"

"I do indeed King Ben," Zeus nodded. "I believe that this does conclude this meeting then. Unless anyone else has anything they need to address?"

"Nothing that comes to mind, Lord Zeus," Mal stated with a nod of her head.

Ben nodded as well and gave a smile to the King of the Gods. "Please let us know if there's any assistance we can offer you."

"Or I you, King Ben, in dealing with the other matter at hand," Zeus told him. "My brother was right during that viewing."

"Lord Hades was right about a lot of things," Ben agreed, trying to keep himself from inadvertently offending Zeus in some way.

Before anyone could say another word, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in!" Ben called before looking over at Mal in confusion. This was a private meeting after all, and they were not to be disturbed unless there was an emergency. Had something happened?

"Forgive me your highness," Dean stated as he opened the door. "I know you said you weren't to be disturbed unless something of importance came up but I thought Lady Mal should be informed of this as soon as possible."

"Informed of what, Dean?" Mal asked, standing up from her chair; Ben subtly reaching for her hand as if to let her know that he was there if she needed him.

"Your cousin has arrived, my Lady. She's being housed in your old dorm due to the meeting but—."

"But she grew bored of being there and figured she'd follow this dude to see where they were keeping her cousin," Uma said with a smirk as she waltzed in. "Benny, Zeus."

"Uma," Ben greeted her with a chuckle.

"Uma," Zeus nodded, a little more subdued than Ben. Mal quickly made her way from her spot at the desk and rushed to her cousin's side.

"What are you _doing_ here?" Mal asked, unable to hide the grin that had formed. She had no doubt that had there not had been an audience consisting of Beast, Belle, Fairy Godmother and Zeus, they would have embraced in each other's arms.

After all, Ben hadn't been the one to insist children were to be imprisoned on a penal island for the crime of sharing their parents' genetics.

"You offered me a spot in Auradon, and I can't get past the barrier to return to the Isle," Uma told her. "I figured that offer was still good? I know it's been a few days since the viewing but I got all turned around by some turtle over in the EAC."

"There was no time limit on the offer," Mal assured her and the grin on her face grew. "Welcome to Auradon, Lady Uma."

"Yeah, that, that's not going to be a thing."

"You're the granddaughter of a _God_ and my cousin _._ It's going to be a thing."

Uma sighed and then pointed at Mal. "It's not going to be a thing from _you_ though. If we _have_ to do titles, it's 'captain' or nothing. Got it?"

"Got it," Mal nodded.

"I think this definitely concludes today's meeting," Zeus muttered to Ben, who bit back a chuckle before nodding.

Dean coughed softy, causing everyone to look over at him. "The limo driver you sent to pick up the new VKs just radioed in sire. They should be here within fifteen minutes."

"Well then, this _is_ a good stopping point," Ben grinned as he stood up, shaking Zeus's hand.

"New VKs?" Uma asked, looking over at Mal. "But you just had VK Day. I thought it was going to be an every month thing?"

"You really thought I was going to let Harry stay on the Isle longer than he had to?" Mal whispered to Uma. "Ben sent him an invite the minute the Blue Fairy released us from the viewing, along with Harriet."

"What about CJ? Mal, you know as well as I that Harriet won't let CJ just stay on the Isle."

"I know," Mal nodded. "That's why _I_ sent her an invite. Harriet deserves to be here in Auradon with Sammy but I know she wouldn't accept the invitation if either one of her siblings was on the Isle. I'm Ben's fiancee, if I overstepped he can tell me."

"Does Ben know?"

"No. I slipped it in with the rest of the post. Ben only knows that Harry, Hadie, Sammy, Harriet and Gil were invited."

"I thought you weren't keeping secrets from Benny after the whole mess of that second viewing?"

"I think of this more of a surprise. Ben wants to get kids off the Isle, I want to get kids off the Isle, and _you_ want to get kids off the Isle. It's a win-win-win."

Uma grinned though Mal had to wonder how much of the grin was for kids getting off of the Isle and how much of it was for the fact that she'd be seeing Harry again. "Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's go greet some VKs!"

"I think that sounds like an excellent idea, Lady Uma," Belle nodded, causing Uma and Mal to start slightly as they hadn't realized they were still in the room.

"I agree," Ben nodded, walking up to Mal and taking her hand. "Lord Zeus, would you like to join us?"

Zeus smiled but shook his head slightly. "As much as I would love to greet my nephew, I should go and reach out to Persephone. The sooner I do, the sooner I can have a response for you King Ben."

"I completely understand," Ben said. "Please give my best to Queen Hera."

"I will," Zeus stated before disappearing in a flash of lighting.

Ben sighed. "I wish he would have done that outside."

"At least he always leaves in the same spot so there's only the damage done to that one area," Mal pointed out. "Plus, there's no more meetings so no more lightning."

Ben chuckled. "You have a point there Mal. Let's say we go greet us some VKs huh?"

"Hold on," Mal said and fished out her phone. "I promised Jay, Carlos and Evie I'd let them know when the limo was coming."

"Good idea, Carlos and Jay can bring Squeaky and Squirmy," Uma grinned. "Those two are going to flip when they see Sammy again."

Mal couldn't help but return the grin as she fired off a quick text. "There. They'll meet us by the statue."

"Ben, would you like us to attend as well?" Belle asked.

"Only if you want to mom," Ben told her. "I know you and dad have a lot on your plates."

_Not to mention Hadie might not be all that thrilled to see Beast after the whole 'dad in chains' thing from the viewing,_ Mal thought with an inward frown.

"I think we should be okay for half an hour," Belle stated, giving Ben a small smile. This was their mess their son had to clean up, the least they could do was be there to see it done.

"Okay, okay, can we get this show on the road now?" Uma asked, resisting the urge to tap her foot.

"Eager to see someone Uma?" Mal teased as they began to walk out. "Hmm, possibly Harry maybe?"

"I don't have to dignify that with a response."

"Because you know I'm right," Mal smirked. She had to admit, it felt good to verbally spar with her cousin like this again without worrying about what it would look like if she lost. It was like getting the best of both world.

The freedom of Auradon but the bite of the Isle. And she wouldn't trade it for anything.


	2. Chapter 2

Uma sighed as she made her way to Beastie's statue with Mal and Benny, Ben's parents keeping their distance. While it was probably just as a way to give Ben and Mal privacy, Uma couldn't help but notice the glances they kept shooting her. Then again, it wasn't that long ago that they had all watched that second viewing.

Gods, it was hard to believe that not that long ago, she had hated the ground Mal walked on.

Then again, it wasn't that long ago that she didn't know Mal was her _cousin_. Wasn't too long ago that she was trapped in the barrier that surrounded the Isle. Gods, it truly was amazing how much the viewings had changed things.

Though…Uma had to admit there was one thing that was weighing on the back of her mind.

"…where's the witch?"

"Pardon?" Mal asked, turning to look over to Uma.

"The waste of oxygen? The former royal? The not so nice Granny?"

"Oh! You're asking about Leah? Why?"

"Because I haven't heard anything about what you're going to do with her about what she did to the princess," Uma stated. "Not to mention what she did to _us_."

"She already lost her crown—"

"So that's it? Mal, that's a slap on the wrist and you know it," Uma stated before lowering her voice to prevent anyone else from overhearing. "Mal you remember what Harry went through after his mom died, a death that could have been prevented if she had had decent food during CJ's birth. All the kids who were crushed because the other residents rushed to get food?"

Mal sighed. "I know Uma. Trust me, I haven't forgotten about everything the VKs have been through. You think I'm not furious every time I think about the fact that our suffering was deliberate?"

"Then why isn't she in a cell someplace awaiting trial?"

"Who says she's not?" Mal asked and Uma paused, looking over at her cousin. "Aurora wrote the day after we were all returned from the viewing. She had her guards seize Leah and Natalie and put them in separate holding cells for their crimes against Audrey. Not to mention Phillip Sr. questioned one of the chefs after the viewing."

"Why?"

"He found it odd that he had the exact same stomach bug as his father even though he hadn't seen his father in months."

"Don't bugs travel? They sure made it through the Isle at a record pace," Uma pointed out.

"We had a myriad of things to work against us though, starting with the fact that we didn't get enough food and probably our lack of sunlight," Mal sighed.

"Ah. So anyway, you were telling me about the Beauty Matriarch from Hell. How _is_ the guy who came up with that wonderful nickname by the way?"

"Chip's fine," Ben chuckled. "He's with Lucas with Lucas' family."

"I'm surprised he left your side Benny. He seemed pretty attached to you at the viewing and you do have your wedding coming up," Uma said but paused as both Mal and Ben chuckled.

"Chip's got plenty of time to travel," Ben explained, seeing the slight look of confusion on Uma's face. "Lord Hades' said that in order to give his permission to propose to Mal, we'd have to have a long engagement."

"Like 'get married after we turn eighteen' long," Mal added.

"Actually I was thinking more around twenty," Ben said and Mal turned to look at him. "What? That way we could have time to actually plan everything out and then we don't have people saying we're rushing into things. Besides, we've got a lot more on our plate."

"Ben I agree but maybe we should table this discussion for another time?" Mal suggested as they reached the door.

Uma sighed. She'd been looking forward to actually finding out what happened to that horrible woman and all Mal had done was increase her curiosity with that little bit of information that really didn't answer anything.

That being said, Uma could understand why Mal wouldn't want to talk about wedding preparations in the middle of the hallway but she had to do more than just give out crumbs of information!

_Now really cuz…did you really think I'd leave you hanging?_

Uma looked over at Mal sharply but Mal didn't react, she was still chattering with Ben. But Uma had been _sure_ that she had heard Mal say something.

_Didn't Ursula ever tell you about the mind link?_

_…no she didn't,_ Uma thought, her mental voice hesitant in case she was wrong about who was talking. _I take it it's an Olympian thing?_

_You'd be right._

This time it was obvious it had been Mal's voice and Uma couldn't help but grin slightly at the idea of being able to have secret conversations.

_But we never were able to do this before._

_…you didn't know I was your cousin before and the mental link only works if you're considered family by the other Olympians at least according to Macaria,_ Mal said, her mental voice soft. Uma resisted the urge to physically shake her head. They had missed out on so much by that secret.

 _But anyway, that's in the past. You wanted to know about Leah?_ Mal asked, clearly trying to change the subject.

_Right. So Phil Sr was asking his kitchen staff because he caught the same stomach bug as his father even though he hadn't been around his father in months?_

_Exactly. Apparently though it's quite easy to catch the same stomach bug when they've been lightly poisoned._

_I'm sorry poisoned?!_

_Lightly poisoned, but yes poisoned. Natalie had been put in Hubert's employ after she was fired as my handler. No other royal family would hire her after Ben let her go, and after the first viewing Aurora wouldn't let Leah to step foot in the castle. But apparently Leah either had some allies in the kitchen staff or just intimidated them into putting the poison in Phillip Sr.'s food so that they missed Audrey's graduation and Ben's proposal._

_Please tell me Leah's going to be punished._

_Auroria will be holding a trial to determine her punishment considering Leah's crimes were against the royal family of the land. Never mind the fact that those crimes could have resulted in Ben being overthrown but as long as Leah gets punished, I'm fine with Auroria taking the ball. Less on Ben's plate. Speaking of which, Ben's been invited to sit as a witness which he's accepted but to be there for Audrey._

_How is she?_

_Do you really want to know?_

_Would I have asked if I didn't?_

_I just figured with what her future self did to Celia…_

_Mal, I am able to tell the difference between the future and the present. Yeah I was angry at the time but her grandmother's a piece of work. The Princess is going to need allies, especially since the Arendelle and Agrabah brats were very keen on keeping Benny away from her._

_…spoken like a captain. I do have to say, it's weird hearing you call someone who's not Evie 'Princess'._

_Yeah well, that's what that Audrey chick is. A Princess. It's not so much an insult to her. Neither is cheerleader now that I think about it considering she was one. I'll need to think of something I could use…_

Mal shot her a small smile before returning to the mental link. _According to Aurora, Audrey's doing alright. She hasn't left the castle yet but she's been constantly talking with Evie, Lonnie, Jane and Elle surprisingly._

_What about the Charmettes?_

_Alexandria's been the only one to offer an olive branch to her, according to Ava. Though that was less because of any sympathy toward Audrey and more because Chad wanted his life to go back to normal._

_Didn't all the Charmettes already hate Audrey? Wouldn't them hating her be a return to normalcy for Charming Jr.?_

_Hating yes but at least for Kitty, there's now a level of loathing that reminds me of…well what we used to have. Or what Jay had to pretend to have for Harry. Or both boys and Zevon. Seeing Chad get shoved in a closet really shook her and part of me doesn't blame her. After all, she turned Ben into a beast._

_Part?_

Mal sighed softly. _She was wielding Maleficent's scepter. There's a possibility that Audrey wasn't in her right mind when she shoved Chad in the closet in the viewing._

_You're reaching._

_I have to be Queen of all of Auradon once Ben and I get married and I have my coronation. I can't pick and choose who my subjects will be. Not like on the Isle when we could choose who could be in our gangs._

Uma couldn't help but nod at that. Mal did have a point after all.

"Hey Ben!" Jay called, pulling both cousins' attention back to the present rather than their own conversation.

"Hey Jay," Ben chuckled, seeing both boys and Evie. "You guys didn't waste any time beating us here."

"Squeaky and Squirmy wouldn't sit still when they heard that Sammy was coming," Carlos explained, and sure enough the mini-Smee's were almost bouncing in their excitement. Ben couldn't help but give the sight a sad smile.

"Ben, a word?" Mal whispered, pulling Ben to the side; Uma having been distracted by Celia rushing up to her and both sisters embracing.

"What's wrong?" Ben asked.

"I wanted to let you know…there's going to be an extra VK in the limo," Mal said. "Harry has a little sister who's about two years younger than him but there would have been no way Harriet would have come to Auradon if CJ was still on the Isle."

"Why wasn't she in the viewing?"

"Who knows? The Blue Fairy decides who attended the viewings, remember?" Mal said softly. "I just…I didn't want you to be shocked when you saw that."

Ben nodded. "I appreciate you letting me know Mal…CJ deserves to have her time in the sun too. And I don't want you to feel like you have to hide the invites you want to send. If you have friends you want to have come over, let me know."

"I…I didn't want you to think I was undermining you," Mal said softly. "I know if you knew about CJ right off the bat, you'd have invited her. It's just…Harriet's spent her life acting as CJ's mother. She deserves to have a good life with Sammy but…I'm an older sister too. I know what she'd choose if CJ didn't get an invite."

Ben nodded and pulled Mal close. "There's a difference between what you did and potentially undermining my rule," he whispered. "You told me before it could be a potential embarrassment. If I hadn't known, and I saw CJ come out of the limo…"

"You would have been as poised as you were when Jay and Carlos fell out of the limo fighting over whatever they were fighting over," Mal said, a smile pulling at the corners of her mouth.

"I don't think I was all that poised," Ben chuckled.

"Oi! Lovebirds!" Uma hollered over to them, preventing Mal from responding to Ben. "Jay said Emir spotted the limo round the bend."

"Alright, alright Uma," Mal chuckled, gently kissing Ben on the cheek before grabbing his hand to walk back over to the group. "Gods, you must be really happy to see Harriet."

"Mal…"

"Oh no Mal, it's Sammy she's eager to see," Jay chuckled. "Everyone knows how close those two are."

"Jay, I will find a plank and make you walk it…"

"Oh no, it must be Gil," Evie ventured but grew quiet at Uma's glare.

"Actually it's probably Hadie, he is her cousin after all," Celia chimed in and grinned as Uma turned to look at her. "What? You really thought I'd say the obvious answer of your bae?"

Uma shook her head in amusement but stopped as the limo stopped in front of them.

"One delivery of VKs for King Ben?"

"Akiho, what are you doing?" Ben chuckled as one of his shadows stepped out of the driver's seat.

"I was bored and you needed someone to pick these guys up," Akiho said as he walked around to open the door for the others.

"Well that's the first I've seen an Auradon prince open the door for someone who wasn't a girl," Jay chuckled.

"Harriet and Sammy are there," Evie pointed out as said girls climbed out of the limo, followed by Gil, Hadie, and Harry.

"Where's…"

"Hi Malsie!" CJ's voice chimed from the front passenger's seat as she rolled down the window.

"Hello CJ," Mal chuckled.

CJ grinned as she opened the door and slid out to stand with the others, the helm of her red coat brushing against the back of her knees.

"Welcome to Auradon," Ben told them and gave a small bow, Mal following suit with a curtsey like in the viewing.

Harry shook his head with a smirk, opening his mouth but paused as a familiar voice broke the silence.

"Hope you don't expect me to bow like that Harry," Uma said with a small chuckle.

"… _Uma_?" Harry said softly, staring at his best friend and captain.

"Hook me," Uma told him, giving him a small smile.

Mal straightened up and couldn't help but give a sad smile as she saw Harry continue to stare in shock, as if he couldn't believe that Uma was really in front of him.

"Uma!" Harry chuckled, rushing up to her and wrapped her up in his thankfully hookless arms; spinning her slightly in his excitement.

"Harry!" Uma exclaimed, though a small chuckle could be heard in her voice. "Put me down!"

"Just happy to see you cap'n," Harry said as he did just that, resting a hand on the back of Uma's head and gently putting his forehead on her's.

"…did I miss their declaration of feelings?" CJ asked, shocked.

"Oh yeah," Harriet nodded, a small smile pulling at her lips as she watched the scene before her. Sammy had already been claimed by her brothers and Gil was busy chatting with Jay and Carlos.

"Mali!" Hadie grinned, rushing up to his sister.

"Hey storm cloud!" Mal exclaimed, wrapping the blue haired boy up in a hug. A hug that Hadie readily returned.

Ben couldn't help but smile as he took in the sight before him. This was what he wanted when he started the VK Initiative. Their two worlds connected and living in peace.

Sure it'd be nice to have the barrier down but there was too much at risk to take it down immediately. He wasn't going to risk the health of the kids just blasting them with that much sunlight right off the bat. So while Fairy Godmother and the Good Fairies did their research into how they could take the barrier down in stages, Ben was going to do what he could to get VKs over to Auradon.

The one thing he hadn't expected though was for Hadie to break from the hug with Mal and wrap him up in a hug of his own.

"Mom told me that at some point you're going to be my brother," Hadie whispered. "I always wanted a brother."

Ben grinned and returned the hug before the younger boy broke the embrace. The grin on the teenaged king's face faded as he saw Hadie freeze slightly. Following the Godling's gaze, Ben frowned as he saw his father standing there.

"Hadie?" Mal asked softly.

"…we're not going to be put in chains are we Mali?" Hadie asked, his voice trembling slightly but Mal could tell that he was trying to hide it with the other VKs in earshot.

"No! No Hadie," Mal told him. "Ben _invited_ you."

"He also asked dad for his help in the viewing and they put him in chains."

Mal sighed. Her brother had a point there.

"You know I did think about that," Uma spoke up. "Gods forbid this sounds like I'm at all defending Beastie but in the future that'll never be from this past viewing, Uncle Hades _had_ already tried to break out of the Isle. Plus really once he was in Auradon, could chains _really_ hold him back should he try to make a break for it?"

"…really Uma?"

"Hey I had a long time to think about it! Do you know how far Auradon is from the EAC? Besides that mini turtle was talking to me in some foreign language or something, I needed to keep myself sane somehow!"

"Turtles? Not the same turtles that Captain Jack Sparrow used to escape being marooned?" CJ asked.

"You know that's an old Captain's tale," Harry scoffed. "He got a lift from rum smugglers."

"Okay!" Ben chuckled as Harriet shook her head in exasperation, "how about a tour? And then I'll show you guys your rooms?"

"Sounds good your highness," Harriet said.

"No need for that, Captain Hook," Ben said with a small smile.

"Ooh, I like this guy!" CJ nodded.

Belle shook her head in slight amusement. "Your highness if you'll please excuse us. I think it's time you father and I head back."

"If you're sure mom. You know you're always welcome," Ben told her. He knew she had to say the official title but there was nothing more strange than being called 'your highness' by your own mother.

"I'm sure dear," Belle nodded. "It was nice to see you all again, and CJ, it was very nice to meet you dear."

"…thank you your highness," CJ said after receiving a look from Harriet. Belle gave the younger blonde girl a smile before heading off, taking her husband's hand and walking him off with her.

Ben's heart broke slightly as Hadie seemed to almost deflate in relief as his father was out of view. Even if there was no proof his father had given the order to put Lord Hades in chains, there was a part of Ben that knew there was no one else it could have been.

And even if Uma did have a point, the likelihood that Hadie had _seen_ his father be put in chains was too high for Ben to be comfortable.

"Let's get this tour underway shall we?" Harry said and Ben couldn't help but grin as he led the second of what he hoped to be many groups into Auradon Prep.


	3. Chapter 3

Carlos grinned as the limo pulled up to Rodger and Anita's farm house. As much as he loved being around Mal and the others…there was nothing better than coming back to the swarm of puppies.

Ben had been gracious enough to give him the ride himself, which was insane! How many people got to claim that they'd been given a ride somewhere by a _King_? Well two people got to.

"I hope Mr. and Mrs. Radcliffe are okay with me coming with," Gil said softly.

"They would have told me if they weren't. Rodger and Anita told me my friends are always welcome to join me whenever I want to stop by," Carlos told the blond. "And you're my friend, Gil. We may have had that period where we couldn't hang out because of Mal and Uma's feud but now it's all water under the bridge."

Gil beamed and wrapped an arm around Carlos' shoulders. "Thanks buddy!"

"Besides, I remember how much you liked being around Dude in the viewing," Carlos said, his voice slightly muffled as his head was pressed against Gil's pec. "Now imagine what being around ninety nine Dalmatian puppies will be like, especially without the threat of being put under a sleeping curse."

"If it's possible to die from cuteness overload, you'll find out today," Ben chuckled from his spot in the driver's seat.

"Ben, you know you really didn't have to drive us," Carlos told his former team mate, captain, and King, sliding out of Gil's grip to lean through the gap between the driver and passenger areas. "The limo was more than enough, we'd have been fine with Dean driving."

"Dean's on a mandatory vacation for a week considering how hard he works and Akiho had made the offer to drive you guys," Ben said. "I figured Gil had already experienced Akiho's driving once in his lifetime, no need to put him through it again."

Akiho meant well but let's just say the Arendelle royal was better at driving sleds than cars or limos.

"I mean I don't know what good driving is supposed to look like but I think only my brothers would actually enjoy that," Gil nodded. "Now my sisters…"

"You've got sisters?" Ben asked, glancing at Gil through the rearview mirror.

"Well some of them are half sisters technically but blood's blood."

"His dad's Gaston, Ben," Carlos shook his head. "You really see _Gaston_ being loyal to just one woman all his life?"

Ben sighed. He knew that perfectly well—Ben had a feeling that even if Gaston had married his mother, he still wouldn't have been loyal to her. Especially if the first child he forced to have was a girl.

"I know Carlos. That wasn't the part that I was surprised about," Ben told the younger boy. He shook his head and glanced back to Gil. "So how many sisters do you have?"

"Nine."

If Ben had been drinking something at that moment, he'd have spat it out. That being said, he was thankful for the reflexes developed by Tourney that prevented him from steering the limo into a tree or the field. "Wait, so…Gaston has _twelve_ kids?!"

"The fact that they all survived is more of the miracle than anything else," Carlos nodded, patting Gil on the back as he moved back to his spot next to the blond. "No offense Gil, but your dad wasn't the most popular guy on the Isle and villains aren't averse to taking it out on kids."

"What're their names?" Ben asked.

"Well there's…Piper, Glenn, Gianina but we just call her Gia, Lacey, Gale, Gene, Locklyn, Georgia, and Gillian. And then my brothers are Gaston Jr. and Gaston the third. I think that's eleven and then plus me is twelve, right Carlos?"

"Right," Carlos nodded. There was an unfortunate disadvantage of having Gaston as a father—he didn't give one jot about his kids' education. Thankfully for Gil, he did have people who cared enough to make sure he wasn't a complete ignoramus.

Could he tell you what ignoramus meant? Probably not but at least he knew the word existed.

It had been an awkward first couple of days for Gil, since Ben's parents always seemed to be around the school. It made sense of course, their son was the King after all. Not to mention he was getting married. Weddings weren't really done on the Isle but Gil had a feeling there was a lot of preparation involved.

Still, Gil wasn't exactly sure how Belle would react to seeing him so he tried to make himself scarce whenever possible. That was easier than he thought. After all, Harry and Uma were always off sparring somewhere, CJ had quickly joined Celia and Dizzy to form a crew of her own, Sammy was with her brothers, and Harriet was never far from her side.

The others, the first group of VKs, were often up to their own devices too. Jay was going off to college after all, Evie had her own business and was hard at work designing wedding gowns, Mal was often with Ben doing leadership stuff Gil assumed, and Carlos was either with Jane or with Dude.

No one really noticed Gil going off on his own.

He was okay on his own. Sure it was a bit lonely but at least Harry didn't glare at him whenever he talked and Uma didn't threaten him with her shell. Playfully now but the threat was always there.

He found he liked being around the stables, around the horses. Of course, he'd gotten the shock of his life a couple of days ago.

_"Hello Gil," Belle said with a kind smile as the blond stared at the former Queen in shock._

_"Oh! Hello um…your highness," Gil said, scrambling to bow._

_"That's not necessary," Belle said and Gil was surprised to see a kind smile on her face rather than the look of distain he thought would be there. Then again, thinking back, there had never been a look of distain whenever she saw him in the last couple viewings. But then he always assumed it was because there were other people._

_"I'll leave you with the horses," Gil said softly. One of the most important rules of the Isle, that even his brothers understood, was that the higher in rank you were, the more you got your way. If Belle wanted to be alone with the horses, Gil wasn't going to stop her._

_"Actually Gil, I wanted to talk with you," Belle said and Gil froze._

_"You…you did?"_

_Belle nodded and sat down on a nearby bench. "I noticed you seemed to be off on your own and wanted to make sure you were okay. I know, after all those viewings, that it's probably a major adjustment for you kids."_

_"Why? I mean…I'm not even a captain or a first mate. I'm just Gaston's son."_

_"Oh Gil," Belle said softly. "Did you think…Were you thinking I'd take my feelings toward your father out on you?"_

_Gil shrugged slightly and Belle felt her heart crack._

_"Gil…honey, I promise you. Yes I may never fully forgive your father for what he did both toward my father and what he did to my husband. But I would never take it out on his child," she said softly._

_Gil nodded, not wanting to ask about Beast. He had a sinking feeling he knew how the former King would react. After all someone put Lord Hades in chains so who knows what he'd do to the son of the guy who almost had Belle's father committed just so she'd marry him?_

_Oh yeah and there was also the shooting Beast with a bow and arrow and then also stabbing him thing. People usually didn't like it when they were stabbed._

_"Do you like to ride?" Belle asked, pulling Gil out of his thoughts._

_"I..I don't know how," Gil told her. "We don't have horses on the Isle so I just like looking at them. I've mucked out the stalls a couple of times. Figured I'd help out where I could."_

_"Would you like to learn?"_

_Gil shrugged. "If I'm honest, your highness, I just really enjoyed being alone. Everyone else had their own thing anyway and…I like more of the craft type things honestly. I repaired Uma's necklace when the pieces arrived in a barge one year after all."_

_"Then I think I know just the royal you should talk to," Belle said with a smile. "Rapunzel's the Queen of crafts. She or her daughters can get you anything you need, and of course you're more than welcome to the art classroom. In fact, come with me. We'll talk to Fairy Godmother, get you enrolled in art."_

_"Um…okay," Gil said, following the former Queen and wondering what in the world just happened._

"You have arrived at Casa de Dalmatian," Ben said, pulling Gil out of his thoughts. "Please enjoy your stay. Your driver will be back on Monday to pick you guys up and of course, if you need anything—."

"We will let Rodger and Anita know," Carlos said. "Ben, you know how you made Dean take a vacation? You might want to look into taking another one yourself."

"Once all this is taken care of with the Isle and Leah, I will," Ben promised. "But you guys enjoy yourselves. I think I see some Dalmatians coming your way."

Sure enough, a few pups were racing towards them, all grinning and barking madly.

"Patch! Freckles!" Carlos grinned as he got out of the limo and scooped one of them up. "Hey Penny!"

"Carlos!" Penny grinned and licked his face. "You were gone for a really long time! We thought you forgot about us!"

"How could I forget about you?" Carlos asked as he moved to the side to let Gil out. "My friend Ben needed my help with something, that's why I was gone. But I'm back now!"

"Who's that?" Patch asked, looking at Gil with a slightly tilted head as Lucky came running up.

Carlos chuckled. "Patch, this is my friend Gil. Gil, this is Patch, Rolly, Lucky, Pepper, Freckles and Penny."

"Nice to meet you. Carlos, I thought there were ninety nine Dalmatian pups. This doesn't look like ninety nine."

Pepper giggled. "The others are coming. Mom said her pet thought a swarm of us would scare you. Plus we didn't know if Dude was coming."

"You guys like Dude though."

"Yeah but he doesn't like Spot Chicken. He always tries to chase him."

"Oh yeah," Carlos chuckled. "Spot Chicken's a chicken here who wants to be a Dalmatian pup," he explained to Gil who looked very confused by the conversation.

"He's a chicken who wants to be a Dalmatian?"

"Uh huh."

"I'm confused."

"We all are with her," Carlos nodded. Thankfully he had left Dude with Jane this go around. He loved his best friend but he figured it'd be one less thing for Gil to be overwhelmed by.

"Hello Carlos!" Anita grinned as she walked out of the farmhouse. "Gil, it's so nice to see you again."

"Hey Anita," Carlos returned the grin as he set down Penny to walk over to the best mother figure he ever had. "Rodger working on his music?"

"He said he'd be right down but you know how he gets when he's in a rhythm," Anita shook her head. "He actually wanted to talk to Lady Mal about that song from the second viewing. The one about being wicked? He said he liked the melody of it and wanted to see if he could use that."

"I don't think Mal owns the rights to that but I'm sure she'd meet with him," Carlos nodded.

Anita smiled and then held her arms open. "Now come 'ere, Carlos. Ooh, it's been an age since I've seen you!"

"I'm pretty sure it hasn't been that long," Carlos chuckled but went into her embrace, returning the hug. Gil couldn't help but give a sad smile at that. He was happy Carlos had a mother figure in his life like Anita, she seemed like a nice person. But, and this was probably selfish to think, but all Gil could think was how much he missed his mother right then.

His mother, one of the three Bimbettes, had always been a person who encouraged Gil to keep up his crafting or being himself even when the Isle said not to. Even as he grew up and joined Uma's crew, he never stopped needing his mother.

It was one of the reasons why he was thankful his older brothers were his older _half_ brothers. He knew compared to them he was a disgrace in his father's eyes…but he was still a boy. He could carry on the LeGume name. So his dad acknowledge him, and made sure his mom was well taken care of.

Well…as well as one could be taken care of on the Isle of course.

His Aunt Paulette was pretty much shunned by his dad, having produced all girls in her pregnancies. Then again, his dad had had trists with any woman he could find on the Isle—he'd even had one with Madame Medusa though that one also resulted in a daughter for Gaston.

Let's just say he and Medusa had never paired off again after that.

It was a lot easier for Gil to keep track of the number of siblings he had when his dad paired off with women who weren't his aunts. Then again, his aunts continued to fawn over him and fight each other for Gaston's affections. That was probably why his dad kept going back to them even if he kept getting daughters instead of the lauded sons he wanted.

Gil though didn't care if they were cousins or sisters, he liked having a big family. It was like a crew. You looked out for every member, not just the ones you liked,

"Well I'll be off," Ben said and Gil jumped slightly.

"Were you here this whole time?"

"Wanted to make sure I wasn't about to drive over any stray pups," Ben explained. "Plus I like seeing the Dalmatian plantation."

"King Ben! Oh I'm so sorry—!"

"Anita, there's no need for that! I shouldn't have said anything, I just wanted to let Carlos know I was leaving," Ben said, waiving off Anita's use of his title. "Please, if you need anything over the weekend, let me know. I can have someone bring it to you or bring it myself if needed."

"That is a kind offer King Ben and one that is certainly appreciated," Anita said. "Won't you come in though? It's a long drive back to the castle and we just made a plate of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches if you'd like to take one for the road."

"Only since you're offering Anita, I wouldn't want to be any trouble."

"No trouble at all King Ben. Come along now, out of the car."

Ben chuckled and turned off the limo's ignition, climbing out of it and going to join Carlos and Gil with the dogs.

"Ben!" Lucky grinned, wagging his tail.

"Hey bud!" Ben grinned back. _Hadie would have a ball here,_ he thought as he bent down to pick up Lucky. The three boys and small pack of dogs followed Anita into the farm house.

"Rodger! Dear, time to come down!" Anita called from the base of the stairs. "We've got company!"

"Be down in a minute!" Rodger sang back to her and Ben shook his head in amusement.

Anita chuckled. "Oh well. Gil, brace yourself."

"For what…?"

Gil trailed off as the rest of the Dalmatian pups swarmed into the home, followed quickly by an older woman. He didn't get a chance to really look at the rest of the woman's features as he was quickly besieged by the puppies.

Not that he had any complaints about that of course.

"Oh dear heavens!" The other woman exclaimed. "Jewel, Fidget, Domino! Get off him! Whizzer! Dipstick! Stop that right now! Cadpig! Scooter!"

"Nanny, you know perfectly well you'll run out of oxygen before you finish calling all their names," Anita said as Gil was almost forced to lie down on the ground just to embrace all of the puppy goodness. Thankfully Carlos and Ben were also there for some of the pups to besiege as well and soon all three boys were on the ground, nearly buried by a sea of black, white and brown.

"Oh there's Spot Chicken," Anita said with a smile. "I was wondering where you'd gotten to."

"Dear? Why are Carlos, Ben and Gil nearly buried by our Dalmatian pups?" Rodger's voice asked from the top of the stairs.

"Because Gil and Carlos are our guests for the weekend and Ben was just coming to grab a sandwich for the road before our lovely pups came in from whatever adventure they were on," Anita chuckled as Rodger came down from the stairs.

"Good heavens," Rodger chuckled and picked one of the pups up off of Gil. "Jewel, you having fun with Gil?"

Jewel nodded, the tag of her collar bouncing up and down as her parents came in.

"Okay pups, off of the boys," Perdita said with a small chuckle.

"Mom!"

"Better do as your mother says," Pongo told them. "Our apologies King Ben."

Ben chuckled as he stood up, the puppies having dispersed. "No apology needed Pongo. It'd been a while since I got a nice dose of puppy love like that."

"Come into the kitchen, King Ben. I'll get your sandwich," Anita told him.

"And I'll get your bag up to your room," Rodger told Gil. "I take it it's back in the car?"

Gil shook his head and held his bag up as he got up off the ground. "It's right here. I grabbed it when we left the limo."

"One of the rules of the Isle after all. Something's out of sight, it's going to get swiped," Carlos nodded.

Rodger frowned slightly though Ben noticed that he quickly hid it to prevent the other two boys from seeing. "Well unless one of our pups is a master thief, you don't have anything to worry about. I promise, your bag is perfectly safe."

"…okay," Gil said slowly.

"If you want, you can follow me so I can show you your room?" Rodger offered. "You'll have to share with Carlos, the farmhouse isn't the biggest after all."

"That's fine," Gil said, perking up a little. "I'm used to sharing a room. I shared with the crew all the time on the ship after all."

He slung his bag over his shoulder and followed Rodger back up the stairs, as Carlos and Ben followed Nanny and Anita into the kitchen.

"Here you are your highness," Nanny said, handing Ben a sandwich along with a ziplock bag which had another couple of sandwiches inside. "I packed one more for the road along with one for Lady Mal."

"Thank you so much Nanny," Ben grinned, taking the bag. "I hate to be a bother but—."

"Let me get you a glass of milk," Nanny nodded, scurrying off to get a glass. Ben shook his head. Between Mrs. Potts, his own mother, and Nanny, it was like having three mothers.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Carlos grin and pick up another one of the pups. He couldn't help but smile himself and made a mental note reaffirming his idea to bring Hadie out here when he picked up the other two boys on Monday.

"Here you are your highness," Nanny said, handing Ben a glass of milk.

"Title's not necessary Nanny but thank you," Ben said as he took it, taking a bite out of his sandwich and grinned as the smooth peanut butter and juicy grape jelly hit his tongue. He hadn't had a PB&J in what felt like _ages_. He didn't even eat the one Mal had made on their picnic all those months ago.

He hadn't really been hungry after their fight…and then the Blue Fairy had brought them into the viewing.

"You all let me know if you need anything."

"I'm sure we'll be fine," Anita said but then paused. "When you have a moment, Ben, there is something I want to talk to you about but it can wait until we have more time. I'm sure you're swamped."

"If you're sure?"

"I'm sure Ben."

Ben nodded. He had a feeling he knew what Anita wanted to talk about. Cruella, for all her lunacy, was a fairly competent business woman and had a thriving fashion line. After she was sent to the Isle, Auradon and therefore his father seized her business and had been using the assets to help the kingdom.

Ben had actually used some of those assets to help set up Carlos' safe house before working to put everything else into a trust for his friend. He didn't feel right, knowing now that the money was legally Carlos', using it for anything else.

 _Anita used to work with Cruella, after all they were schoolmates and friends before Cruella stole Perdita's pups,_ Ben thought. _She'd probably want to know what's going on with that business. Though I'm not sure Carlos would want to do anything with his mother's fashion line. He could sell it though…maybe to Evie. The money would definitely help him get through vet school if that's what he truly wants to do._

"Well I'll be off," Ben nodded. "Anita, Nanny, thank you again for the sandwich and the milk."

"Which you haven't had a drop of," Nanny tutted.

"Oh right," Ben chuckled and drank the milk, the liquid feeling good against the peanut butter that was coating the back of his throat. "Carlos, don't have too much fun with the pups. Dude'll get jealous."

"I think Gil might have more fun," Carlos chuckled as Cadpig licked his cheek. Ben smiled in amusement before making his way back to the limo to make the drive back to his castle.

There was no better way to put a smile on your face than a pile of pups after all.


	4. Chapter 4

Audrey stared at the door to the office, the place that had been her grandmother's base of operations so to speak. The place she ruled Auroria while Audrey was the figure head. The puppet at the end of Leah's strings.

After dropping the scepter and riding herself of the Queen of Mean persona, Audrey hadn't exactly been yearning to enter the office. If it was up to her, she wouldn't step foot in there for the rest of her life. But there was a part of her that was done with letting her grandmother control her life.

Leah had already been the cause of divide between Audrey and Phil, had been the cause of the divide between Audrey and her friends. Well…all but Chad. And Ben, if the viewing was any indication. Plus, at least now she was closer to Phil Jr. In fact, it was often rare he left her side, unless he was spending time with Melody though she wasn't exactly thrilled with him after she found out that he'd left Audrey with Leah before the viewing went down.

 _Gods, the fact that he woke me up…after everything I put him through as a sister, everything I put him through in the viewing. I had put him under a sleeping curse in that! I slapped him! I …I guess a sibling bond is something that's harder to break than we thought,_ Audrey thought as she continued to stand in front of the closed door.

Screwing up her courage, she reached out and turned the doorknob. After noting in her shock that it wasn't locked, she opened the door and stepped inside. The office was pretty much your run of the mill type office, not something you'd expect to find in a Princess' nightmares. The dark wood paneling and light shelves made it feel like a room you'd find in Fairy Cottage, which is what Audrey was sure her mother was going for when the castle was first built. Someplace she'd be comfortable. Someplace that felt like home to her.

Over the years, it had become her father's office. A place he could go if he needed to negotiate a deal with an ally or even just slip away if a dinner party was getting to be too stressful. He often said he preferred the wood paneling to the stone of the castle but never said why that was.

 _Okay, I go in, I remove any trace of Grammy, I get out before father even knows I was in here. That way he can have his office back without being reminded of the woman who poisoned him. Because of me._ Audrey thought as she hoisted the empty box that was under her arm. Her mother was still furious with her grandmother, understandably so. While Audrey knew her grandmother wanted the family to be the rulers of Auradon, she didn't have to be so Machiavellian about it.

What? Yeah she knew big words. She had been friends with Ben since they were _three_ after all. Just because she _acted_ like a ditzy princess with no brains didn't mean she necessarily _was_ one. After all, she'd been given the gift of 'strategy' by her Aunt Merryweather at her christening. She'd need to have the brains to at least understand the strategy she was proposing.

Setting the box on the desk, Audrey sighed as her fingers brushed over the spines of the books that were on the shelves. Where would she even begin? The wooden paneling had been covered by thick tapestries that made the room feel colder and darker than it had any right to. The books were just put there for decoration but they weren't books that either one of her parents would read. And then of course, there were the posters—drafts of the posters she remembered seeing around the Isle in the first viewing.

_King Beast wants you to try and have a nice day._

_King Beast wants you to be good._

Before she knew what she was doing, Audrey reached out and tore one of the posters down; bits of paper still clinging to the wall for dear life.

"Want some help? I can't tell you the number of times I've wanted to do that since I found out your grandmother put those up there."

Audrey turned around in shock at hearing her father's voice in the doorway, the decrepit poster still hanging limply from her hands. She hadn't lashed out like that in a while, not since…not since the 'Phillip incident' as she called it in her head.

"What're you doing here?"

"Shouldn't I be asking that question to you? After everything your grandmother did, I'd thought this was the last place you'd want to be," Phillip said gently as he crossed the threshold of the office.

Audrey shrugged. "I'm…I'm tired of allowing her to have control of my life anymore," she said, her voice a near whisper. "This is my home isn't it? She doesn't get to dictate where I can and can't go."

Phillip gave his daughter a small smile as he heard that. "You're right. This is your home, and it will always be your home," he told her, gently pulling her into his arms and giving her a hug, the poster falling to the ground as she returned it. "You don't have to do this Audrey."

"After…after everything I did in the viewing…"

"Hey, hey, yes you stole the scepter and crown but that was it. _You_ weren't the one who shoved Chad in the closet, _you_ weren't the one who cursed Mal…"

"Was I the one who cursed Ben? Was I the one who turned him into his worst fear?" Audrey whispered as she looked up at him and Phillip's heart broke as he heard the pain in his little girl's voice. Sure, she was nearly a grown woman but she would always be his little girl.

The little girl who would run into his room clutching a well loved plush rabbit when the old oak tree's branches tapped on her window in the middle of the night during the dead of winter. The little girl who loved to visit Fairy Cottage and feed the woodland creatures. The little girl who'd sit on his lap and pretend to rule Auroria while he tried to write responses to correspondence.

Sometimes they'd set up a small table next to his desk, during the days right after Phillip Jr. was born, and she'd write her own 'letters'. Though nine times out of ten they were just a bunch of squiggles since she was just a toddler, she would still hold it up to him with a sense of pride.

Phillip would do anything to get that little girl back…but he knew there was no rewinding time. Even if one wave of Fairy Godmother's wand could do just that.

"Audrey, you know Ben doesn't judge you for that," Phillip said gently, brushing a bit of hair out of her eyes. She'd yet to get her hair changed back to its normal shade of brown. The one time Phillip had asked, his heart broke when Audrey told him that she wanted to be sure her grandmother wasn’t going to force her to change it back.

"His friends do," Audrey whispered. "Even if I wanted to apologize to Ben for that, they wouldn't let me within an arms length. Never mind Chip or even Mal and her friends."

"Mal doesn't judge you for that either. She's been calling every day to check on you. And do you really think Evie would be helping you rebuild your wardrobe if she judged you for what the you in the viewing did?"

Carlos and Jay had also helped in their own way. Jay had reached out and offered Audrey a chance to attend a practice with the cheer squad over at Sherwood University while Carlos had invited her over on a weekend trip to the Radcliffes with him and Gil.

"King Kit almost _dueled_ you for what the me in the viewing did," Audrey sighed as she picked up the poster and put it in the box, bringing Phillip back to the present. "I'm pretty sure Chip nearly gave himself an aneurysm every time the Ben in the viewing was near me. Not to mention Kitty and Lucy would be happy if I burst into flames."

"They were just upset over Chad's reaction," Phillip said. Though it was true that Kit almost dueled him because of what Chad had gone though in the viewing. In all honesty though, he didn't blame Kit in the slightest.

Parents were kinda stupid when they came to their kids after all.

And yes, Chip did seem rather tense throughout the whole viewing but just as parents were stupid when they came to their kids, siblings were stupid when it came to their little siblings. Or at least Phillip assumed, being an only child himself.

"Hey…father? This drawer to your desk, I can't get it open," Audrey said softly as she went about going through the office and ridding it of any presence of Leah. She knew there wasn't much she could do about the tapestries on the walls but she _could_ check the desk drawers.

Besides, looking through the drawers would be better than continuing the conversation with her father. She knew how the others felt, even if he said otherwise.

"Strange," Phillip said, walking over. He knew what she was doing but he wasn't going to force the issue. Audrey would talk when she was ready. "I don't lock the drawers to my desk. I didn't even know they _did_ lock if I'm completely honest."

"Grammy probably did," Audrey sighed. Great, there would always be the tiniest bit of Leah in the office, reminding her that she could never truly escape. Sure she could always just avoid the office for the rest of her days but…there was a part of Audrey that didn't want to do that.

"Well if push comes to shove we can get rid of the desk," Phillip told her. "But you know what…ah! It's not locked! This drawer always stuck a bit….give me two seconds and I bet if I do _this_ …"

Twisting his body slightly and putting all his weight into it, Phillip yanked open the drawer; stumbling slightly due to the momentum.

"There," he nodded. "One drawer, open as requested."

"My hero," Audrey giggled slightly as Phillip straightened himself out. She turned to start taking things out of the desk drawer, never noticing her father's slight smile at the words. Or at hearing her laugh.

_Gods, it's been so long since I've heard her laugh like that. I know as her father it's normal to want to protect her but…after that viewing all I want to do is just wrap her up in her favorite blanket, heat up some hot chocolate and hold her close to keep all the dangers of the world at bay._

The issue was…it wasn't some nefarious villain who had done this to Audrey. It was her own grandmother. The woman who was supposed to protect her almost as much as her parents did.

 _Of course, when all Leah cares about is royal rank, it's rather hard to be the kind and loving grandmother Audrey should have had,_ Phillip sighed as he thought about his mother. How would she have reacted to finding out what Leah had said to Audrey at Ben's proposal to Mal. Phillip had a feeling it wouldn't haven been pretty.

Audrey slowly pulled out the little trinkets that used to be on her father's desk, trinkets that either her grandmother or that Natalie had put away when they set up shop. A small part of Audrey couldn't help but hope it had been her grandmother, hope that even after everything there was still some good in her grandmother.

"You still have this?" Audrey asked her father, holding up the sword letter opener she and Phillip Jr. had given him for Father's Day, back when they were six and four respectively.

"My kids gave me that, of course I still have it," Phillip nodded and Audrey shook her head as she continued to clear out the drawer. It was weird but after encountering the stuck drawer, Audrey had almost expected to find some hidden plot or something. Just another twist that her life had taken.

But so far it truly was just her father's old desk knickknacks. Well…and a book.

 _What in the world…?_ Audrey thought as she pulled the book out. _How to Read a Person Like a Book? I mean I know Grammy liked to know what people were thinking but this seems almost extreme don't you think? Especially since Grammy's past the age where anyone would think of her as a potential match._

Audrey began to thumb through the book, trying to get a sense of what her grandmother was trying to do by having it. She shook her head. Honestly, there was evil plots and then there was her grandmother. Her Grammy might have done a number on her but that was just because she wanted to return the family's reputation and status back to what it was.

To what it was before _Leah_ had ruined it with her stunt with the food that was to go to the Isle.

However, her eyes stopped on a particular passage near the beginning of the book and Audrey froze.

_It's important to know that everyone is hypnotized many times a day anyway…so for convert hypnosis (or conversational hypnosis) to happen, two things have to be established. The person must have focused attention and the person has to respond to suggestion. That's it. Hypnosis isn't a sinister way to control people the way everyone says._

The book slipped through Audrey's hands and landed on the ground with a loud thud.

"Audrey?" Phillip exclaimed, rushing over. "Audrey, are you alright?"

Audrey didn't respond. Instead, she racked her brain over every instance when she was alone with her grandmother. But there was nothing that she could think of that would make it seem like she was…and Phil had seemed alright, even if his comments back before the viewing had been a bit callous…but that had been more out of jealously than cruelty hadn't it? Besides, he'd apologized…

_Am I dating a person or a golden retriever? Chad's loyal but he's never this loyal to a single girl. Even if we were friends before we were dating._

She wasn't sure why the thought had appeared in her brain but she gasped softly at her realization. Her grandmother wasn't hypnotizing _her_. She (or Natalie) was hypnotizing _Chad_.

Chad, her only friend throughout that whole ordeal. Chad one of the few people who would still talk to her after the viewing. Well…he would respond to her texts. He'd yet to be over to see her though knowing what she knew now…Audrey didn't really blame him.

Her shoulder started to shake as silent tears cascaded down her cheeks. She slowly sank down to her knees as one hand shakily went to cover her mouth, to prevent any sound from slipping out as she continued to cry.

_Grammy didn't even think I could find a boyfriend on my own. Either that or she wanted to make sure Chad didn't dump me the way Ben had. She…she was that determined to make me the Queen in some way she never stopped to think about who she was hurting….Chad's going to be devastated when he finds out. And what does that say about me? That I never once noticed a difference between his behavior when he was hypnotized and when he wasn't?_

Was there a difference though? Sure he was nicer to his sisters but no matter what Chad was loyal to his family. She remembered when they were kids, maybe seven or eight, how Chad would tell her about how he was working with Kitty on her sword work so she wouldn't feel too bad when she lost in the first round against their father. Or how he'd often protect her against monsters under her bed.

Audrey remembered feeling so jealous of Kitty back then. She had a big brother to protect her, the way princes were supposed to, and all Audrey had was a little brother who _she_ was supposed to look out for.

"Phillip? What happened? What's going on?" Aurora's voice broke through the silence as she peered into the doorway of the office to see her husband crouched on the ground, his arms wrapped around Audrey's shoulders as a way to comfort her but looking incredibly confused. As if he had no idea what started the crying and was at a loss of what he could do to make it stop.

"She…we were cleaning out our office, Briar, and she found that book and all of a sudden she just…was like this," Phillip said softly, one of his hands gently rubbing Audrey's back the way he used to when she was a toddler and had woken up crying from a bad dream. Usually it involved Maleficent's dragon form in some sense as her favorite story to hear before bed was the time Phillip had saved Aurora from the sleeping curse.

"Chad," Audrey whispered, her tear filled brown eyes looking up at Aurora. "That book…Grammy would meet with Chad once a week in here when he came to help me move back to Auradon Prep and even before…before then, when he came to check on me. Grammy…she must have used that to…"

Aurora frowned as she crossed the threshold and walked over to where the book laid on the ground, some of the pages having been dog eared by how it landed. Picking it up, she thumbed though the pages until she came across the same page Audrey had.

"Briar?" Phillip asked, watching Aurora stiffen and her blue eyes seemed almost darken with rage.

"Stay with Audrey Phillip," she said, her voice low as she straightened up her back.

"Briar, someone's going to have to tell the Charmings about this," Phillip told her. Sure he had no love lost toward his mother-in-law and if he was completely truthful he had no idea what was going on. But Chad had been affected in some way, that he did know.

"Phillip, until we know _exactly_ what happened involving this book, it'll be better if the Charmings don't know. At least not yet," Aurora told him. "Stay with our daughter. It's my turn to face the dragon for our family."

Her eyes softened as she turned to look at Audrey. Kneeling down, Aurora gently kissed the top of her daughter's blonde head. "Know this Audrey. No one is mad at _you_. All you did was find a book," she said softly.

"But…why would Grammy do this?" Audrey asked, her voice catching from her tears.

"That's what I'm going to find out," Aurora promised as she stood up and marched out of Phillip's office.

Phillip shook his head. "Never mess with your mother when she's in 'Mama Bear' mode. Speaking of which, how's about you and I sneak down to the kitchen and heat up some hot chocolate?"

"Isn't it the middle of summer?" Audrey asked, her voice soft.

"Then we put some whipped cream and cinnamon in some chocolate milk," Phillip shrugged.

Audrey smiled slightly at the idea. "Could…could we make a blanket castle? Like we did when I was younger?"

Phillip smiled as he held her close. "My blanket castle skills might be a little rusty but I think if we work together, we might be able to make a castle fit for a princess."

He might not be able to turn back time or protect Audrey from the outside world…but if he could make his little girl feel better, then he'd do it.

As Aurora said, it was her turn to face the dragon—Audrey needed him more at that moment. And there was no place he'd rather be than at her side.

"Um…your highness?"

Oh. Right. Kingdom stuff.

"Yes?" Phillip asked as he held back a sigh, looking over at one of the attendants.

"There's a phone call for you," the attendant said.

"Is it urgent?"

"In all honestly, no sire."

Phillip nodded. "Take a message and let them know I'll call them back. Tell them I had a family emergency if you need to. My family comes first."

"Of course sire," the attendant nodded and walked off, presumably to relay the message. Phillip smiled down at Audrey and gently helped her up to her feet, wiping her tears.

"Now, I believe the two of us have a date for some cold chocolate?"

Phillip couldn't help but smile as he saw the smile on Audrey's face. It was weak…but it was a start.


End file.
